Not what they expected
by some stuff
Summary: They didn't know one cold night of winter could change how they saw each other. Maybe destiny was really trying to kick them in the ass. One-shot, the beginning of BryanxMariah. Rated T for language.


Beware of any grammatical mistakes!

Enjoy! :D

**I do not own Beyblade ):**

Bryan sat up screaming and gasping for breath, cold sweat tickling down his forehead. He only realized he was awake and out of danger when he slowly recognized his surroundings as his hotel room.

He noticed he was breathing heavily with his heart beating painfully inside his ribcage. He shot one arm to his face covering his eyes and put the other on his chest trying in vain to slow his heart, letting his body fall back into the bed tiredly.

"_Holy shit_" He managed to whisper after a good moment. Why were the nightmares coming back again? It had already been 3 years since he left that God-forsaken place, and yet, this particular nightmare was as bad –if not worse- as the ones he had on his Abbey days.

Luckily this time each one of his brothers had a separate room, so none of them heard his terrified scream. He really had to thank the old man Dickenson later.

He chuckled slightly imagining Spencer's worried face telling him he absolutely needed to go back to his shrink. _Hell no._ Three years of psychologists had been long enough, thank you very much.

Bryan sighed and let his body relax for a minute. He wouldn't admit it even to himself, but he was so terribly scared of nightmares. They were only too real.

Especially this one.

He shivered involuntarily by the simple thought of it, a sudden sense of dread and emptiness overwhelming his mind.

He immediately got up and put his hoody and his boots on. He couldn't stay in his bed, he would eventually fall asleep and the nightmares would return. He took his pack of cigarettes and his lighter from his backpack and put them into his pocket.

He glanced to his night table and saw Falboarg gleaming dimly almost as if he was trying to comfort him. Bryan gave his bitbeast a small smile and took him with him.

The Falcon made sure to walk as silently as he possibly could in the dark room so he wouldn't wake any of his brothers. He suddenly stumbled with a chair and crashed loudly into the floor.

"_Fuck! That hurt"_ He whispered to himself holding his foot in pain. Maybe God was on his side tonight, since none of his teammates seemed bothered by the sound.

He got up and tried to make his way to the door, hopefully this time, without tackling any piece of furniture.

Once he was out, he gently closed the door and gave a few steps before realization hit him like a painful punch in the guts. He didn't have the door key. He facepalmed in misery remembering that he hadn't taken his cellphone with him either.

What time was it anyways? Oh well… Only thing left to do was waiting until Kai woke up at 5 in the morning and hoping he'd notice his absence.

Meanwhile, he was going to smoke his stress away.

He climbed the hotel stairs, refusing to use the elevator since he was claustrophobic as shit. He went all the way up until he found a door that lead to the rooftop. It was a small concrete space abandoned by all signs of humanity. Just what he liked.

He got out of the building and into the rooftop and noticed the door closing behind him, but chose not to give a fuck about it anyways. He leaned against the wall and let his body slide down so he was sitting against it.

Damn, he was cold. Why in hell had the BBA chose Canada as country host in mid-winter, he would never know.

He took his pack of cigarettes from his pocket and put one into his mouth while he searched for the lighter. He was about to light it when the roof door opened slowly next to him. He stared at it confused until someone walked through it without noticing him.

The girl closed the door behind her and put her arms around her sides trying in vain to warm herself, while she walked a little closer to the rooftop ledge.

Meanwhile, Bryan was just following her with his gaze warily, still holding the cigarette on his mouth with both hands around his lighter. She was dressed with only a white t-shirt, pink shorts, and a thin jacket. Not a smart choice.

Assuming she would just ignore him, he shrugged slightly to himself and started the lighter.

Mariah suddenly turned her head surprised by the sound and let a small gasp when she noticed someone sitting just a few meters across her. She just stayed frozen in the spot until her eyes winded realizing who it actually was.

"You!" She said outraged.

"Yeah, brilliant deduction" Bryan replied laughing sarcastically at the statement.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded sternly crossing her arms, ignoring his previous reply.

Bryan calmly took a drag on his cigarette and let the smoke out creating a grey cloud.

"You know, I kinda got out here first, so I should probably be the one asking that question" He smirked when he saw Mariah glare angrily at him.

"It doesn't concern you" The Necojin replied dryly. "Now tell me"

"Guess you have my answer then" The tall Russian said coldly. This girl didn't like him. And in all honestly, he didn't like her either. He knew she was judging him, and he didn't like people judging him without even getting to know him first.

"You really are unbelievable" Mariah said narrowing her eyes and angrily made her way to the door. She tried to pull the heavy door but frowned when it didn't move. She tried one more time using all her strength, again, failing to open the door.

"Why won't it open?" She asked frustrated, turning to Bryan.

"Why should I know?" He answered her disinterestedly taking another drag on his cigarette. "Maybe you are too weak to open it" He suggested smirking slightly.

"Well help me out then!" She just stood there for about a minute waiting for him to help her. Apparently, he wouldn't even bother to look at her. "…Please?" She tried again pleadingly.

The lilac haired blader sighed irritated and gave a last drag to his cigarette. "Alright…" he extinguished it on the floor, got up and walked to where Mariah was.

He tried to open it once, then twice, this time a little more forcefully. Still nothing. Bryan laughed skeptically, as if he was laughing at a cruel joke.

"It's locked" The Falcon stated amused. Yup, God definitely hated him.

"_Locked?_ I can't be locked! I just went through it a moment ago!" Mariah panicked pushing him aside to try to open the heavy door by herself. "We need to open it! We'll freeze to death if we don't!"

"Just drop it kitten, it won't open" He told her getting back to his spot. "Now, where did I put my lighter?" He mumbled to himself searching his pockets.

"Excuse me? Do you really want to die here?! It's freezing!" She said trying to convince him to keep trying. "And I am **not**a kitten" She glared at him clearly offended.

"It's locked from the inside and if I'm not mistaken, it is a security door, we'll never manage to open it" He put another cigarette on his mouth and lighted it, taking a long drag. "I'm from Russia, we're not going to freeze, believe me. We'll probably just get sick, _kitten_"

"So you're really just going to wait there doing _nothing _until someone finds us?" She asked exasperated.

"I'm smoking, am I not?" He pointed out matter-of-factly. "Would you like to join me?"

"I don't smoke"

"Figures"

Eventually, Mariah took a seat by the door, rubbing her arms in a fail attempt to warm her body. It really was a cold day. Well, night considering it was probably 2 or 3 in the morning. How much time had passed now?

"So tell me, how come Mr. Dickenson still let you all beyblade?" She asked after a while, curiosity getting the best of her.

"What do you mean?" He narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't like where this question was going.

"You hurt Rei" She sentenced coldly. "And your whole team stole our Bitbeasts. How come you're still allowed to blade?" The tension between both of them could literally be felt in a 3 kilometers area.

"We've changed"

"I don't think you have" Now that was a really mean.

She knew she was being harsh to him, but he was the same guy who hurt Rei all those years ago. She was still angry at him, she couldn't just forgive him that easily. Even if he had truly changed.

"You don't know me" He replied glaring defiantly at her, he had his fists clutched tightly with his heart beating fast. '_Don't do anything stupid' _his consciousness told him hurriedly. God-dammed anger issues.

"I do. You enjoyed putting Rei on the hospital, didn't you?"

"Tsk. You can think whatever you want, girl. I'm not going to change your mind"

"Why did you do it?"

The Falcon refused to look at her, he didn't even grace her with an answer either. That girl was seriously pushing him to his bitter end.

"Answer me!" She wanted an answer, and she wanted it now. Still, he was just ignoring her. "I have the right to know! What kind of heartless person—"

"I WAS MEANT TO KILL HIM!" He screamed at her. A thick and strong silence followed suit. "THOSE WERE MY ORDERS!"

Something inside him had snapped, his usually strong and steady wall crumbling down completely, overflowing with emotions.

"I DIDN'T WANT TO KILL HIM SO I JUST REMOVED HIM FROM COMPETITION! WHY CAN'T ANY OF YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!" He was now standing, yelling and being completely honest to her. "I am aware I was a psychotic bastard but _**I have changed**_. And I am NOT going to let _you _or_ anyone_ else judge me for what I was. Not anymore."

She was just frozen under his dark glare. She didn't expect an outburst like this. But what truly shocked her were his eyes. Deep down his angry and cold façade she could see sadness and hurt.

After a few tense moments, he walked to the ledge searching his pack of cigarettes and put one on his mouth hurriedly.

"God fucking dammit" He cursed out loud realizing his lighter had taken a sick pleasure to choose that exact moment to stop working. He roughly put his cigarette back into his pack and threw it to the ground along with the lighter.

He then seated on the very ledge of the rooftop, with his legs hanging in the air, trying to avoid any interaction with her as much as he could.

Behind him, Mariah could barely think anything at all. She was completely and utterly shocked. What was she thinking?

Suddenly realization hit her "You… threw your match…?" She asked disbelievingly. "… to protect him?"

"Does it really matter now?" He asked with an unreadable voice. "What's done is done"

She still couldn't grasp the whole concept of this new information… so he had actually thrown his match against Rei? What about… _Oh no- _

"Did Boris find out?" She asked all of a sudden, worry written in her face. She remembered the rumors about that man. "…Did he do anything to you?"

He didn't say anything for a long moment, to the point she thought he wasn't going to reply.

"He eventually figured it out" He simply said still leaning dangerously on the very ledge of the rooftop, playing aimlessly with Falboarg on his hands. "Can't say he took it very well"

Her eyes winded, breath caught in her throat. She quickly tried not to think about it, she didn't want to know what had happened after the tournament, now did she?

Time passed without any of them saying anything.

The night was getting colder and colder.

Bryan was looking down at the city not really thinking about anything. He felt… strangely calm. Almost as if he had lifted a weight off his shoulders. Why wasn't he angry at her?

He felt the cold air against his body and shivered involuntarily, suddenly taking into account Mariah's lack of warm clothes, not that his were appropriate either. He turned around slightly to check if she hadn't died of hypothermia or anything, and sure enough, she was shivering violently with chattering teeth and her arms and knees up to her chin.

Bryan sighed tiredly to himself and finally stood up. He took his hoody off without much enthusiasm and walked by the door sitting just next to her, offering her his still warm clothing.

"Wh-what a-are you d-doing?" She asked surprised still shivering.

"Take it"

Mariah glanced at it and then looked at Bryan concerned. "B-b-but it's so c-cold!"

"You'll really get sick in this weather. I'm used to it, you're not"

"Th-thanks" She said trying to put it on. It was at least three times bigger than her and smelled like a mixture of smoke and something soft she couldn't quite put her finger into, and _God_ it was so warm.

They sat there in awkward silence for far too much time.

The Chinese girl glanced at him subtly. He only had a black t-shirt on, and still, it didn't look like he was particularly cold. But then again, he could just be pretending so she wouldn't feel bad for accepting his hoody.

Apparently, he was also lost on his thoughts, since he wasn't trying to make his lighter work so he could smoke or anything, he was just staring at the stars.

She didn't know he smoked. But what _did_ she actually knew about him…?

"How was the Abbey?" The Necojin caught herself asking without having the time to stop.

Bryan looked at her surprised, but his expression quickly changed to a thoughtful one. "Horrible?" He shrugged at the simplicity of that word. He couldn't describe that place. No amount of words could. "Dark, depressing, scary… you name it"

"I can't imagine how it must have been for you guys…" She said apologetically.

"We're alive, that's what matters"

"Yeah… I'm glad you're okay now" She smiled softly at him.

"It's my turn now" Bryan broke the silence after a few more minutes turning at her.

"Huh?"

"To ask you a question" He smirked slightly at her. "You have asked me a lot of stuff, haven't you?"

She giggled embarrassed "Yeah, I guess I have. What do you want to know?"

"Are you finally going to tell me why were you out here, in pajamas, at 2 in the morning?"

The pink haired blader laughed slightly at the question. "I wanted to see the stars" She looked at him amused. "Lee always laughs at me, he says it's childish. That's why I sneak up at night"

"Well he's an asshole 'cause stars are mother fucking _awesome. _Just like sandwiches. Sandwiches are good too"

"They are!" Mariah laughed again at his strange sense of humor. "What about you?" She asked still smiling at him.

"I- Uhh… I couldn't sleep" The tall Russian finally said awkwardly.

"You do seem like the type of guy who eats too much before going to sleep" She joked innocently. "Just like Tyson!"

"Ugh _no_, no way I could ever eat like him" She laughed again at his reply, he didn't understand why though. "I had a nightmare…" He said after a while. "A real bad one"

The Nekojin looked at him with a sad smile. She could tell he didn't want to talk about it, so she just remained quiet. She felt so guilty for earlier. In the end, Bryan was nothing like she had expected. He was a kind, reliable person. Not to mention his twisted sense of humor. Why couldn't she see that earlier?

More hours –or minutes- passed, this time filled with a comfortable silence.

The sky was cloudy and it looked like it would snow soon. The sun wouldn't shine that day, either. Slowly, small snowflakes began to fall from the slightly brighter sky, dropping just by their heads.

Bryan repressed a shiver, it was only going to get colder.

"Greaaat, just what we needed, snow! Thanks for _that _kitten" His tone was jokingly harsh, as if blaming her for the weather.

"I'm sorry" She whispered after a long pause.

"I don't think the snow is your fault you know" The Falcon chuckled, unaware of her silent tears. "Though that would be amazing"

Bryan turned to smirk at her but his half-smile instantly faded by her crying face. Why was she crying? Did he make her cry? What had he done now? He ran a tired hand through his hair. This is why he didn't like interacting with people. They usually confused him, he didn't know how to talk to them, so he always ended up hurting them. And well, the other way around was also true. He _couldn't_ trust people, sooner or later, they always hurt him too.

"Hey-" The Falcon looked worriedly at her and just didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry okay? Snow is a natural effect, I didn't mean to call you a freak or anything, I know you can't possibly create snow out of nowhere" He was now getting irritated at his lack of social understanding.

"I mean- I'm sorry for how I treated you earlier. I shouldn't have said those things" She explained quietly. She didn't want to look him in the eyes. She really didn't want him to see her cry.

"Oh."

He didn't say anything for a few minutes. He watched the city bellow them. It was beautiful.

It really wasn't her fault. After all, he had built that reputation, hadn't he? He had put up a wall of coldness and violence so anyone besides his team could reach him. "It's okay, don't worry about it" He replied quietly.

"It isn't! I shouldn't have said that! You put your life in danger just to protect Rei even though you didn't know him and I- I just- I am such a horrible person" She sobbed louder and leaned to cry into his shoulder.

Bryan panicked for a second, physical contact was really out of his social experience. If he had learned anything from Spencer's mushy, lovey-dovey, and just plain boring romantic movies, was that he was meant to _do something _to comfort a crying girl. He desperately thought on a way to make her feel better, and settled with putting his arm around her shoulders awkwardly.

"It's okay, kitten" He said calmly. "It wasn't your fault"

Thank _God_ Tala wasn't here. He would never hear the end of it if he saw his new revealed soft side.

At that exact same moment, as if destiny was trying to kick him in the balls, Tala opened the door and saw his brother hugging a girl, with few clothes and alone on the rooftop.

"…Am I interrupting something?" He asked warily still on his spot, holding the door. "Holy shit- _Mariah_?" His smirk grew in disbelief.

"What are you doing here?" The Falcon asked both irritated and strangely defensive, while Mariah quickly tried to wipe her tears with the sleeves of his hoody in vain, almost as if they were caught doing something they shouldn't be doing.

"I woke up because all hell broke loose when Kai accidentally crashed with a chair that was in the middle of the way and got all psycho about it, though we have no idea how it got there," Bryan gulped at the statement. "then, while I was hiding from little Satan's spawn, I noticed your sorry ass missing, so I came looking out for you in the only place I know you get all emo and mysterious to 'think about stuff', and apparently, I was right!"

"Congratulations Red!" The Flacon said with a flat voice faking enthusiasm. "You can now become a detective" He added sarcastically.

" A 'thank you for saving us, almighty captain' wouldn't be bad you know?" He narrowed his eyes at his friend, but his expression changed to a mischievous one in no time. "Now please, enlighten me," he trailed off. "what were you both doing out here, alone in the dark and-"

"WE GOT STUCK!" Mariah yelled all of a sudden after hearing his implied accusation. Both Bryan and Tala stared at her as if she had grown a second head. "The…The door only opens from the inside, so yeah… we- we got stuck hehe.." She laughed nervously. Great, now they though she was crazy.

"Riiight" The redhead said skeptically. "Anyways, let's get out of here, okay? My balls are freezing" Bryan facepalmed at his brother's choice of words.

They went to Mariah's hotel room to make sure she'd be okay, all of them walking silently through the halls. Once she made sure she had her door key with her, she turned to face the two tall Russians.

"Well, I think that's it then… thank you for finding us Tala"

"See Bry? She appreciates my effort, I like this girl, you should totally date her-" The redhead captain was shut off by Bryan's hand roughly covering his mouth.

"Please don't encourage him" He told her jokingly and released his captain. "Oh, and one last thing kitten, please don't say anything about… You know, the match and stuff."

Tala snapped his head disbelievingly at his brother "She knows?!"

Mariah instantly did the same "_He _knows?!"

Bryan burst out laughing light-heartedly while the two bladers stood there in shock. "Hahaha- Of course they know! They're my brothers!" He told the Necojin while he whipped out a few laughing tears.

"I thought you didn't want any _'lame blader'_ to know about you little rebellious act" The redhead raised his eyebrows questioningly emphasizing the title he had given everyone.

Mariah turned her attention at Bryan and crossed her arms offended, though she was just faking her anger. "_'Lame bladers'_?!"

"Oh shut up Red" Bryan punched his captain in the arm. "You could've omitted that part"

"_Ouch!_"

"Mariah is my friend, she is allowed to know the truth" He smiled at her. He didn't grin, smirk or gave a half-awkward smile, he actually _smiled _at her. A bright and sweet smile.

They both stared at each other in understanding. No more half angry stares, no more avoiding or judging each other, they were really friends now. And they couldn't be more happy.

"Oookay, enough flirting already, I'm hungry!" The redhead said amused and started to walk in the other direction leaving them both behind.

"Well… see you around I guess" The Falcon said awkwardly and began to follow his captain.

"Yeah… See you around" Mariah agreed slightly leaning on the door, still enjoying the warmth of his hoodie. She had learned so much about him in just a few hours, things that he hadn't told anyone but his team. Suddenly, she felt the urge to thank him for his trust.

"Hey Bryan! Wait-" She called hurriedly.

He stopped abruptly and turned to face her, surprised.

"Thank you" Mariah she smiled sincerely at him staring directly into his eyes. "For everything"

"Any time, kitten" He smiled brightly for the second time that night, a rare, strange occurrence. "Anytime"

…

BryanxMariah has ALWAYS been my OTP :') I love my babies so much, and the he whole 'Bryan threw his mathch against Rei' is one of my strong headcanons, I hope you're okay with it, it's the only logical explanation I can give to his match! At least in my head…

Any questions you may have had while reading this, send me a PM or a review, I'll be glad to answer you :D

I wanted to try another genre in my stories, I really hope I don't suck at writing angst and romance! Please, tell me what you thought, is it okay? Is it too dramatic? Is it readable at all?

And as always, PLEASE REVIEW! :DD It's what keeps me going :)


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